An investigation of the health care provided for blacks in the ante-bellum South is proposed. At the present time no adequate study of health care delivery for this group has been done. The focus will be not only on plantation slaves, but also on freedmen, and on urban and industrial slaves. Quantitative as well as qualitative aspects will be considered, including comparative analyses of birth and death rates, industrial and plantation accident rates, and morbidity and mortality rates for specific diseases. Such subjects as major epidemics, insanity, female diseases, use of professional personnel, genetic diseases and their medical consequences, and infectious and non-infectious diseases will be covered. To adequately study the problem in depth and still obtain a representative sample for the entire South, the researchers propose to limit their research to four selected states: Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana and Kentucky. The manuscript repositories in these four states and in several other locations will provide the basic source material, supplemented by primary and secondary readings available through or at the University of Virginia Libraries. It is expected that this study will further the American historian's understanding of the black man's living conditions in the Old South, and his relationship with his white neighbors and masters, and provide the medical historian with a unified picture of disease and medical practice in the ante-bellum South.